WOODBURN, Ore. — The State of Oregon recently received federal funding for a project aimed at stopping youth criminal offenders from reoffending.

The Oregon Youth Authority, which oversees the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn, secured a three-year grant to help fund the Oregon Youth Offender Re-entry Project. The project is intended to remove some of the barriers youth offenders face when they return to the community.

The grant proposal reported that nearly 40 percent of youth committed to OYA return to a youth correctional facility within one year. One of the key goals of the project is to begin planning earlier for their transitions back to society and offer youth on parole access to more services needed to succeed.